Word Origin & History

impair late 14c., earlier ampayre, apeyre (c.1300), from O.Fr. empeirier, from V.L. *impejorare "make worse," from L. in- "into" + L.L. pejorare "make worse," from pejor "worse." In ref. to driving under the influence of alcohol, first recorded 1951 in Canadian Eng.

Example Sentences for impaired

Methods of dealing with impaired nurses are becoming less punitive.

Even as colleges embrace diversity, simple solutions to help the visually impaired are overlooked.

However by global convention loans are not marked to market, but carried at cost and impaired gradually.

The best known service dogs are guides for the visually impaired.

Weakening eyesight can be sharpened with lenses, and impaired hearing can be improved with aids.

One group of people has traditionally been left out of our modern tablet revolution: the visually impaired.